Ghostbusters Puzzle Fighter (iOS)

If anything is notable about Ghostbusters Puzzle Fighter, it’s former secretary Janine suited up and in the busting party. She isn’t draped in a pink jumpsuit (as she was in the cartoon adaptation The Real Ghostbusters), rather part of the team, an equal who wears the traditional tan. Said sight is better than what’s planned for the upcoming reboot.

All of Ghostbuster lore is present in Puzzle Fighter, the name not be confused with the perfection of 1996’s Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. This Ghostbusters-themed Puzzle Fighter is just a money-sucking lug, with derivative match-three mechanics and piles of extended universe lore – purely to make continuous money. Puzzle Fighter treats the lore screwy, too. Viggo and Zuul pop up in the first few levels, the two movie’s big bads dispatched like minor afterthoughts.

Puzzle Fighter is a nightmarish waste of time, flooded with tiresome, confusing currency systems and plodding, regenerating health. There are packs to open (with $), characters to unlock (with $), energy to increase (with $), levels to progress (with $), and power boosts to get (with $). While attractive (menu art is superb), Puzzle Fighter drags itself through the inner sanctum of free-to-play hell, while proton streams lure players into a trap rather than the ghosts.